Preparing bear meat

[WiccanSpirit]

Hello again all. I am back with yet another question. lol I love wild meat but when it comes to bear meat, well, let's just say it's not my absolute favorite :D
What is a good way to prepare it? Thanks everyone for your input. I have basically only eaten it stewed so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[mamab]

I've never eaten or prepared bear meat. I'm sure it would work in a pinch, and if you could kill one, but I don't think I'll be trying it any time real soon.

I would think that you could prepare it almost any way you'd prepare beef, though. I read someplace that you should boil it before preparing it any other way, to get the fat out of the meat.

[tater03]

You know I have never tried it or cooked it for that matter. But I will ask my husband what he does because I know that he has a cookbook that has all kinds of receipes. I will dig it out and post on what I find.

[Tangent210]

I've never tried bear but I've always wanted too. I can't imagine it would be very good, bears have so much muscle I couldn't imagine it being very good to eat, but I'd like to experience it atleast once haha.

[donny h]

I can't speak to preparing bear meat, but here is something I heard that effects the flavor, I have no idea if this is actually true:

Supposedly, a bears diet dictates what the flavor of the meat is like, bears living mostly on berries, sweet grass, acorns and such taste the least gamey, while bears that are living on meat, like salmon bears, are the most gamey, and trash/townie bears taste the foulest of all.

[Minwaabi]

I've never tried bear but I've always wanted too. I can't imagine it would be very good, bears have so much muscle I couldn't imagine it being very good to eat, but I'd like to experience it atleast once haha.

Meat = muscle. (Unless of course you like to eat fat). More specifically most meat is skeletal muscle though some folks eat smooth muscle (Chitlins and liver being the first that come to mind) and cardiac muscle (heart) is a delicacy to others. For the record pretty much all body parts are made out of muscle, fat, bone, or cartlidge. The big factor is how often a muscle gets used (light/dark meat) and for what purpose (stronger muscles tend to be tighter and therefore firmer and chewier). <Sorry, I'm a bio teacher>

[vicki2]

I have a friend who grew up in Maine ...in a hunting camp. Her tales of preparing the bear kills is so disgusting that I doubt I'd ever even try the meat although I love venison and game birds. What a greasy mess it sounds like!

[WiccanSpirit]

Hello again! Thank you to everyone who replied. And VIcky, yes, bear meat is extremely greasy. I was told that there are certain ways to prepare it so that it doesn't have so much grease. lol but when you are in the bush and starving, well, anything tastes good. :)

[echos]

Hello to everyone. My guy and all my family goe bear hunting every year. The best is a small young bear, if you are going to eat it. I gut,clean all that stuff, as usual and then , just like a deer,elk, I strip off the back buttocks meat and fry it at high temp in an iorn skillett until really crispy brown. We love this. I use pam in the pan , and re-use it too.I also use a ton of garlic for seasoning. My Mom loves it with pepper. Tha roasts are the best and you should have a professional process it. Thats the best way I know to eliminate so much of the fat.

[Bowcatz]

Bear meat is known for carrying trichinosis. It is the same parasite carried by swine (another greasy, fatty meat) and lives in the muscle tissue. Make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked before eating it. You'll have flu-like symptoms when you are infected with trichinosis at first. It's killed many an explorer in the North Pole who relied on polar bear meat when nothing else to eat was available and rescue was months away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis Here's a link that explains the disease and the parasite well enough to encourage you to thoroughly cook the flesh before eating it.

[Tangent210]

Meat = muscle. (Unless of course you like to eat fat). More specifically most meat is skeletal muscle though some folks eat smooth muscle (Chitlins and liver being the first that come to mind) and cardiac muscle (heart) is a delicacy to others. For the record pretty much all body parts are made out of muscle, fat, bone, or cartlidge. The big factor is how often a muscle gets used (light/dark meat) and for what purpose (stronger muscles tend to be tighter and therefore firmer and chewier). <Sorry, I'm a bio teacher>

Well I guess what I was implying when I said muscle I meant a lot of highly used muscle. It's very stringy and tough, as opposed to cattle who's meat is usually pretty soft in comparison. Sorry for the confusion.

[rubybeetle]

Bear meat is known for carrying trichinosis.

:eek: Yuck! I didn't know that. As a general rule, I always cook meat very thoroughly.

[echos]

Great advice, cook it well. I have never had any problems with parasites up here in the north.

[vicki2]

I think one of the reasons a lot of people don't like game meat is that, because it needs to be cooked so thoroughly, it usually gets sort of tough.
Stews are a great way to off set that. My father used to always make the game stews and he'd drop a long ash from the end of his cigar ...always said it was part of the seasoning LOL.

[Bowcatz]

There seems to be a link between bears eating human garbage and trichinosis. Maybe the bears are eating pork infected with the disease because the pigs are fed human garbage. I am guessing on that one.

[vicki2]

Or it's just that they are eating rancid garbage and stuff alot too ...I guess their systems are just less prone to being made sick from it all than ours are.
Just a thought.

[WiccanSpirit]

Hi everyone! Yea Vicki, i agree with you. I think you are on to something there. Many bears do survive on garbage, it's a way of life for those dump bears and they are not sick at all, at least the ones i have seen up close don't seem like they are.

[rusty_oxydado]

In the first place bear don't taste like chicken, no matter how many chicken a bear will eat!
If a bear is eating garbage then it may have tricinosis, pigs fed garbage will have tricinosis, in the old days this is why you cook pork well done, but today, you don't need to worry about this with pork much any more.
What is the bear eating? Fish? the dogs won't even esat it as it is so rank! Berries, grass and small animals? Ok the texture is rougher than beef, maybe a bit tougher to chew, so cook to tenderize, (cook slow and low,) no it isn't going to taste like beef, good grief, it is a bear, get over it, it is going to taste just like a bear!
It can be mild and almost like beef, and again depending on what it has been feeding on it can be a bit different to outright distasteful!
Steak is always nice whne you have it, but maybe not with bear, it just may be a bit on the tough side to chew through, again cook slow, and low heat setting. It is an excellent meat to do in a crock pot. Bear meat comes into it's own as a rosat instead, as roasts are cooked slowly.
As bear will dictate a lot in how you will season it, it lends it's self to rich flavors sauces, and hot spices.
It is an excellent meat to make sausages with, fermented, summer and fresh sausage.
If you find your meat is a bit heavy in flavor for your tastes try ground meat with no more than 25% fat, 1 tsp. 1 Tbsp. black pepper and a pinch of powdered clove for every pound of ground meat, mix all well, rest over night in the reefer, press into patties and fry till cooked trhough, perky, and tingles the taste buds.
You need more recipes post me.

[woodzman]

Black Bear is one of my favorite meats. Roasted, stewed, panfried or BBQ'd. The liver and backstraps in my opinion are the best part of the critter. As was already said a young bear is best, it should be trimmed of all fat before cooking and cooked completely. I agree too, that if a bear has been feeding on garbage or carrion It's not going to be the best tasting food, but one that's been feeding on things like nuts, or wild fruit, is in my opinion one tasty critter.

[trax]

I don't hunt bears or eat bear meat, but removal of a lot of the fat happens during the skinning and gutting process for those who are interested in pursuing it. Removal of excess surface fat also helps get rid of a lot of the "gaminess" if that's a word, that one finds with any wild meat. So does a thorough job of de-boning the animal, it seems that flavor stays more in the fat and in the marrow.

[aviator survivalist]

Bear meat is known for carrying trichinosis. It is the same parasite carried by swine (another greasy, fatty meat) and lives in the muscle tissue. Make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked before eating it. You'll have flu-like symptoms when you are infected with trichinosis at first. It's killed many an explorer in the North Pole who relied on polar bear meat when nothing else to eat was available and rescue was months away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis Here's a link that explains the disease and the parasite well enough to encourage you to thoroughly cook the flesh before eating it.

yeah.. thats more than enough motivation for me..

[Fog_Harbor]

If you're in a survival situation, especially during colder months, you want all the fat you can get.

Bear meat is excellent in my opinion, but like every other wild meat, you should cook it well. I don't tend to like my meat grilled well done, so I end up making stews and soups more often than not. Bear makes great stew.

[rusty_oxydado]

Again with the trichinosis! Cattle, pork, devon, and especially rabbit can have trichinosis.
You eat raw meat you might get it! Cook the meat done and tender, and you will have no worries!
In a survival situation, you won't worry what kind of meat it is as much as getting it's protien, and that is a fact.
I know many an early explorer who lost his life from the canned goods they ate, (the lids were soldered) and they died of lead poisoning. However on the otherhand as a people who live all year long above the Artic Circle, seem to be some of the healthiest people in the north.
Much of their food intake is raw, or near raw meat and fat, and bear is on their menu when the bear mistakenly wonder too close to the hunters.
Trichinosis is an issue, but then it comes back to where the critter has been feeding, and what it eats.

[carcajou garou]

Bear meat is very good, but it depends were it feeds and you hunt.
Garbage in garbage out :eek:

[Chipper]

Try shredding it (like pulled pork) and then put the bear and tons of barbeque sauce in a crock pot and slow cook it. I've had bear this way. Yummy.